Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Dismay over Trump’s refusal to believe Putin hacked the US election

These are the smoke signals rising from those in and around the
United States intelligence community over President-elect Donald Trump's
dismissal of the evidence of Russian hacking in the presidential election.

And now, in a series of tweets, Mr. Trump has taken the side of
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange over the collective conclusion of those tasked
with our national security.

Assange, in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity (who at
this point must be considered a full-fledged propagandist and abetter) said he
didn't get the information from Russia.

Well if he says so... Let's just use that same standard for all
of our adversaries. Nothing to see here. Why waste all these billions of
dollars on intelligence gathering?

When it comes to our intelligence services, there must be many caveats.
This work is more art than pure science, often picking out clues from a lot of noise.

Our intelligence has been wrong in the past.

The CIA and other organizations have overstepped their bounds at
times, and their findings have been politicized (Iraq).

Furthermore there is often a certain amount of dissent about
many findings.

I also must add that I have long felt we can benefit from taking
a long, hard, and critical look at our intelligence apparatus, its structure,
bureaucratic interferences, and fiefdoms.

But in this case, those concerns are secondary as the agencies
seem to be speaking largely in unison with the urgency of real evidence.

I have found the men and women who do these intelligence jobs to
be serious about their line of work. Deadly serious.

After all, when they are wrong people can and often do die. What
do the vast network of people risking their lives undercover and in dangerous
locals, men and women whose names we will never know, think of Mr. Trump's
cavalier dismissal of their work?

What about the thousands more at headquarters using their
immense analytical skills in the service of country instead of, say, making
millions on Wall Street?

We need a robust intelligence force now more than ever. This is
a matter of national security. It affects all Americans, and people around the
world.

Hopefully patriots within Mr. Trump's own party and in his inner
circle will step up and tell the incoming president how dangerous this rhetoric
is.

Heaven forbid we suffer another horrible
attack. Heaven forbid our intelligence community was hollowed out, wasn't
listened to or respected. These are the stakes.

Thought for the day

Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on Fake News NBC! Question is, how do the Networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution? Likewise for many other shows? Very unfair and should be looked into. This is the real Collusion!

Individual One’s tweet at 4:52 AM - 17 Feb 2019 after a long, hard day of playing golf at Mar-A-Lago on Day Two of our “national emergency.”

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